Q: What is the baby food diet? I’ve heard it’s nutritious and additive free. So would you recommend it?

A: The baby food crash diet means that you trade a regular sized meal for a jar of baby food. Similar to portion controlled diets, the baby food diet uses jars of baby food as a ‘healthy’ alternative to snacks and sometimes a meal because baby foods have fewer preservatives and additives than regular processed foods. The baby food is eaten right out of the jar at room temperature. The jars consist of liquidised or pureed versions of the food that we enjoy chewing daily.

 

The baby food diet is a diet I would never recommend to my patients for a number of reasons.

 

On the baby food diet, you’d be eating between 2 and 3 jars of baby food a day which is a significant drop in calories. Not only will this slow down your metabolism making long term weight loss harder, it will leave you feeling weak and tired and will not satisfy your hunger.

 

If you want to diet and nutrition is important to you, the baby food diet is lacking in nutrients that are essential for your health and well being. It also won’t do what it says on its label; help you lose weight. You may lose a few pounds when you start but this is just water and muscle weight and in the long run you’ll end up putting it all back on again as fat and more besides because your metabolism (fat burning) has slowed down. Not to mention the fact that eating bland and unsatisfying pureed baby food instead of a healthy meal you can chew and savour isn’t doing your digestive system any favours.

 

I’ve said it before but it’s so important I’ll say it over and over again. Crash diets and fad diets like the baby food diet never work when it comes to weight loss. Crash diets remain popular despite the unhealthy effects that crash diets can produce. In 2007 the world’s largest study of weight loss at the University of California showed that dieting is damaging because of the tendency to regain weight which is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and diabetes.. The only way to lose weight healthily and successfully and keep it off in the long term is to lose it gradually at a rate of no more than 1 to 2 pounds a week through eating a healthy diet rich in metabolism and health boosting whole grains, fruits, vegetables, oily fish, legumes, nuts and seeds.

Q: Our daughter is 19yrs old and tends to binge eat when she is angry or upset.

She also has polycystic ovaries. I have read this can cause mood swings.  She also has a birch allergy to specific fruits and vegetables when eaten raw and all kinds of nuts. 

Can you please make any suggestions on diet that can help? She also appears to have an intolerance to milk which makes her sick.

A: Unfortunately at the moment your daughter is trapped in a vicious cycle.  The kind of food that she probably eats when angry or upset eg sweets, cakes, chocolate, biscuits etc are a major problem for women with PCOS as this causes more blood sugar imbalances which then exacerbates the PCOS. 

 

In each menstrual cycle, follicles grow on the ovaries. Within those follicles eggs develop, one of which will reach maturity faster than the others and be released into the fallopian tubes. This is known as ovulation. The remaining follicles (sometimes hundreds) will degenerate. In the case of polycystic ovaries, however, the ovaries are much larger than normal, and there are a number of undeveloped follicles that appear in clumps, rather like a bunch of grapes. Where the problem starts, however, is when the cysts cause an hormonal imbalance, leading to a series of symptoms.

 

There can be a tendency to be overweight, have no or very few periods, be prone to acne, grow heavy body hair, often on the face, breasts and inside of the legs, and be susceptible to mood swings.

 

Women with PCOS are more likely to have problems balancing blood sugar, and they can be insulin-resistant. Insulin-resistance happens when insulin levels are high but that insulin cannot transport glucose into the cells. This, in turn, leads to high levels of blood glucose (sugar).  Excess insulin leads to an increased appetite, which can cause overweight. The more circulating insulin, the more the ovaries produce testosterone and so the cycle continues.

 

The key to your daughter’s problem is to get her blood sugar in balance; this is explained in my book ‘Nutritional Health Handbook for Women’ and describes the foods to eat, what to avoid and supplements that can be useful.  There is also an ebook on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome available from www.naturalhealthpractice.com.   Your daughter may also benefit from speaking to a counsellor regarding how she reacts when she gets emotional in order to break the cycle of binge eating. 

 

 

 

‘Eat your carrots – they’ll help you to see in the dark,’ parents have urged their children for generations. And it’s no old wives’ tale; carrots are the one of the highest vegetable sources of vitamin A and its precursors alpha-carotene and beta-carotene, all potent antioxidants which are essential for good vision. Both alpha- and beta-carotene are converted to vitamin A in the liver, and the retina can then convert vitamin A into ‘visual purple’, or rhodopsin, which enables us to see in the dark.

Vitamin A’s powerful antioxidant capabilities also enable it to neutralise free radicals that could otherwise damage the lens or the blood supply to the eye.

Two large studies have linked diets high in vitamin A with better eye health. In an eight-year study of over 50,000 nurses, researchers found that those with the highest intakes of vitamin A cut their risk of developing cataracts by almost 40%1 – and just two small carrots (weighing 100g in total) can provide 602mcg, which is 86% of a man’s and 100% of a woman’s daily vitamin A requirements. Another large study indicated that eating three or more daily servings of fresh fruit and vegetables, such as carrots, can also reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration by 36%, compared to those who consume less than 1.5 fruit servings per day.

 

Studies also suggest that a diet rich in high-carotenoid foods such as carrots is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease.  Research has also shown that low blood levels of beta-carotene increase the risk of cancer of the breast, lung, stomach, prostate, colon, ovary, and cervix.

 

Alpha- and beta-carotenes from carrots have also been shown to enhance immune function, and as carrots are also rich in vitamin C which plays an important role in wound healing and immunity eating a carrot a day could certainly help keep the doctor away.